Charles Ellicott Commentary Esther 8

Did ... give the house of Haman. —Confiscation of goods necessarily followed on a sentence of death in the East. So, in our own case, a convicted felon’s property is forfeited to the Crown.

Took off his ring ... and gave it to Mordecai. —Thereby constituting him his Vizier, who would thus authenticate a royal decree, and who, by having, as it were, carte blanche given him for the time being, would for that period save his master all further trouble. Mordecai’s position had now become what Daniel’s had been to Darius, that nobler servant to a worthier lord (see Daniel 6:2, 38). He was the queen’s cousin, and he had on one occasion been the means of saving the king’s life, and therefore starts under distinctly favourable auspices.

Besought him ... to put away the mischief. —Esther’s work was still only half done. She had seen the condemnation of the enemy of her people and the exaltation of her kinsman to his office. However, the royal edict issued against the Jews still remains valid, and being a written decree, sealed with the king’s seal, it is considered impossible to alter. Therefore, it was not a situation where Mordecai’s newly acquired dignity would authorize him to interfere. Consequently, Esther, who, now that the ice is broken, becomes more courageous, makes a fresh appeal to the king to do what was, in theory, beyond the king’s power.

The king held out the golden sceptre. —See Note on Esther 4:11.

To reverse. —Rather, to bring back, to recall. Esther shows considerable skill in wording her request. She avoids speaking of the king’s letters, but calls them “the letters, the device of Haman, which he wrote.” It is the king, however, to whom the injury is done—“to destroy the Jews which are in all the king’s provinces.”